the sea x love

Tag: fashion

  • sweaters

    This was not the post I had planned for this week. I was going to go into detail on how I get deals. I am very much avoiding doing work right (I’m tired, actually exhausted I think) but I’m also trying to clear out my gdrive because I’m way over capacity. I thought I had successfully transferred over my files but that was not true. Anyways, the meat of todays post is a collection of sweaters and cardigans (which I really need one of these) that I’m digging right now. These are all from brands that I love and have bought from before.

    Sea’s Martha Cardigan

    I’m a huge fan of Sea NY, especially for their knits (my favorite sweater of all time is from them). I know Whering, the app I use to catalog and organize my closet, would disagree but Sea is a big brand in my wardrobe. I am also partial to their dresses. Their knits are really well made and thick. They’re definitely worth the money but if you’re in NYC area you should check out their sample sale. It’s a good time to get a discount on many of their clothes, specifically sweaters. I’ve bought a few things during their sales.

    Elexiay Amelia Sweater

    Elexiay, is smaller brand out of Nigeria. I have this sweater style in a custom colorway (the green one if you’ve seen this over socials a while back that was me) that apparently was copied by shein. I’m literally finding it out right now as I’m working on this substack. I love Elexiay, they do take commissions, so you can get a custom piece at pretty much retail cost. Since their pieces are crocheted, they are handmade. Knits are knitted by a machine but crocheting can only be accomplished by hand, so even when you see super cheap crochet work just know it was made with underpaid labor. Their quality is amazing, and I’m sorry in advance if the rest of the list makes no sense, because I’m in disbelief right now.

    Babaa no. 18

    My sweater collection is split between Sea and Babaa, I love them. They’re handmade using organic spanish cotton in spain, using low impact dyes. They also have wool sweaters made from spanish wool, and if my sweater shelf wasn’t overflowing I would buy one of these every season. They also hold their resale value very well, so they are a good investment. The no.18 are great for layering and very slouchy. I also love the color options, I’m obsessed with hibiscus flower (pictured here).

    Ulla Johnson

    I’m a huge fan of Ulla Johnson’s designs more broadly and I know her sweaters are particularly popular. I love her pieces because the materials are primo. I have a lot of her dresses and am looking to diversify what I buy from her. There’s a leather skirt from last season that I love, a white top from five years ago that I can’t seem to find anymore, and sweater. I love the sweaters. They’re chunky and timeless, some are more funky and fun. This red one is alpaca, made by a women’s collective in Peru, and is available on the real real in a small and large. Her clothes do run large so please read the measurements.

    Alemais Villa Cropped Knit Jumper

    VILLA CROPPED KNIT JUMPER

    I waver on this sweater, because my favorite sweater (this one from sea) has fruit all over the sweater instead of just on the front, like this one. This one is also a mix of natural and synthetic fibers which I really try to avoid, although the sea cardigan at at the beginning of this list has acrylic in it.`I’m not a fan of acrylic/synthetics in clothes because they wear out quickly and make it harder to repair the clothing so youll have to replace the clothes more often.

    I have more sweaters I want to focus on but honestly the shein thing threw me for a loop today so I’ll do a part two later.

    Deals on sweaters:

    The state of clothing now is bleak at least in the mainstream. That’s sort of why I started this and it’s a little cathartic for me just make lists of things I’ve bought or want to buy or brands I think should get more attention. Maybe it’s because I started a furniture company a few years ago and it’s very difficult to start a company on a marketing front. As I write this more and more, I’ll definitely talk about myself more and my approach to shopping/building a wardrobe. I do a mix of vintage/second hand, and new. There are so many places to find good quality clothes for under $100 or even under $20. While, I do highlight a lot of new pieces, I want to stress that a lot of stuff can be found second hand. I think next week’s post will focus on this in detail but will say, that the real real and thredup have some really absurd deals. You really can get over 80% off on quality clothes.

  • deals how to get them

    I planned to share this post a few weeks ago but then I didn’t feel like writing it. Then I lost track of time sooooo here we go. I know a few people (myself included) are attempting no/(s)low buys this year. I said I would do that after an absurdly expensive fashion year, where I went a little overboard. I quickly failed at that mostly because I did not actually want to do it. Instead I have a new method that’s healthier than an all or nothing approach because even though I did overspend last year I do not have many clothes and I am still trying to rebuild my wardrobe after years of not buying anything. I also know that I am capable of doing a no buy because I did them before they were really a thing and went on a no-buy for years for environmental reasons. Finally, even though I did go overboard in comparison to my previous years I not spending, I got some absurdly good deals and this is how I did it. This will probably be one of my most unglamorous posts but no matter your budget these tips are helpful!

    1. look everywhere! you never know where you will find things. i am truthfully embarrassed to admit this but im like fifty buy/sell/trade groups for various brands on facebook. sometimes you luck on there and there are groups for nearly everything. it’s as simple as searching [brand/designer] bst/buy. Normally not a lot of trading happens in these groups and I would recommend using paypal business for any transactions to protect your purchase.
    2. second-hand sites (ebay/poshmark/vestiaire collective/thredup/ mercari/vinted/therealreal). i love buying secondhand for a lot of reasons. i enjoy saving money but also seeing first hand how much textile waste the West produces keeps me up at night, it’s so much and so sad. so i will always buy second hand and always try selling something before donating it for this very reason. is it a little more inconvenient? yeah but somethings gotta give and i’d it rather be me than the earth. i love all of these sites because you can really luck out either in terms of finding exactly what you’re looking for at a lower price or finding something you wouldn’t have noticed before. the big downside to searching on these sites is people can be lazy with listing things so you will have to hunt oooor you can use my final big tip which is the one i use the most now to save time.
    3. google (and bing) reverse image search (google calls this google lens). this is one of the best tools for second hand shopping or finding some long lost item. i was able to find the louboutins i wanted for less simply by using this lens. i found the dress i wanted for years with lens (granted it was on the realreal but it didn’t show up immediately in my saved search). i found some shoes i wanted for a while today with lens. i hate sharing this because I want to gatekeep but i also believe if it is meant for me it will be. i recommend clarifying the search a bit by adding a keyword like a brand to really weed out unnecessary images. occasionally i will use bing too because bing is actually better at finding the source of an image (i.e. you found something on pinterest and want to find the first place this image popped up, you might need to use bing).
    4. okay i lied my final tip is beni, which a chrome plugin that will essentially do the google search for you and automatically find second options of most of the thing you shop for clothing-wise. it’s great and honestly i forget about it a lot of the time until it pops up and then i remember to use it. highly recommend it because it will find you the things you’re looking for in your size and you can save pieces to. so say it’s not currently on a second-hand site it will let you know when one becomes available so you can purchase it.

    i will get into this more in the next post but i check every single day for certain things in order to find them because if there is one thing i’ve learned you can buy pretty much anything second hand but you might only get one chance to get it depending on the item.

  • birthday fantasy wishlist

    birthday fantasy wishlist

    Sooo I had actually meant to post this for Christmas/holiday season and I completely forgot, luckily my birthday is shortly after the holiday season. I am staunchly a believer that gifts should either be extremely over the top, something the receiver would not buy for themselves because it is too decadant to justify buying (you can tell I loved the fantasy lookbook from Neimans each year); oooor gifts should be very practical something that would improve the receiver’s life and make it easier. This could be something like a bill paid or money, a reusable lint roller (or anything in a fabric care kit if they’ve expressed they want to take better care of their clothes), or cookbook tailored to their interests. Essentially glamorous or extremely glamorous. The only time you should buy something random is if you don’t really know the person, that’s when the thought counts because if you buy something for someone you have a close relationship with and you’re unsure if they will like it or they’ve told explicity things they want and you stray from that list to get something you think they will like, it is no longer the thought that counts because you didn’t think. Gift giving is very easy, you just have to listen. I have more thoughts on gifts but this is the gist. Let’s get into my fantasy list, which is really an aliquot of a larger list.

    Now that I’m sitting here though I realize I really forgot one important item from this list sooo I’m just going drop a photo of it at the end.

    1. Diptyque Sapins. This is my favorite candle from diptyque, it’s pine scented and I have a tiny baby one and I want a bigger one. I want the massive big boy $500 roses one and while these candles are quality, I feel guilty buying one because you are literally burning money. Fancy candles are generally a great gift because you are literally burning money and it’s always better to burn someone else’s rather than your own.
    2. Erede Billow Collar. I love the collar lenght for necklaces, might be my favorite lenght. I like long lariat length but I love collars. I don’t really have many necklaces and I would like to change that. There is a list of more economical necklaces, because this one comes in at $16k. It is 18k and has a few diamonds although I wish it had more.
    3. Chloé cape. If you check my tiktok you’ll know I’m a bit obsessed with Chloé and have a growing collection (mostly purchased from TRR). I love the style and that they’re a b-corp. I fell in love with this cape when I saw it on the runway and really hope I get it soon (although not sure how that’s going to happen when I’m on a (s)low buy).
    4. Chloé fur coat. This is vintage and I have my eye on a few of them. This full length one, that I’m not entirely sure I could pull off and some shorter ones. When I buy things for my wardrobe, I go through a few mental questions, which I will go through in another post. One of the big recurring questions: is how close am I from becoming a sterotype? I’m toeing a lot of lines with my wardrobe, it is not exactly one thing and that’s how personal style should be.
    5. Magda Butrym crochet lace dress. Absolutely in love with this dress, granted I love Magda Butrym especially after getting my white whale from her line. I have a few other pieces I want from her. I love how structured, feminine, and edgy the pieces are and really grateful to own my favorite dress of all time.
    6. Chloé bag. I’m entirely unsure the style name for this bag, I only remember is was 11k on Bergdorf’s site and I accidently stumbled upon it. It’s so excessive and fun, I love the constrast between leather and metal. I love that it’s a banana, it’s so cute!
    7. Loewe whale bag! This is one of the more affordable pieces on this list. I need it, like truthfully, it’s a sperm whale, it’s realistic, it’s fun and silly, it’s only $1,600. Moby Dick is one of my favorite books which is why this bag is so special to me.

    honorable mention that should have been included but I forgot, alemais lantern mini dress. Playful and fun, and similar to the magda butrym dress, I am not entirely sure where I would wear this but I really want to wear it. It is 3100USD including the shipping.

    I might make a list of practical items that are much more economical and things I need to buy but haven’t gotten around to it.